Painting the town green to celebrate World Environment Day

MEDIA RELEASE: June 5, 2018 - Painting the town green to celebrate World Environment Day

Peak conservation body the Queensland Conservation Council will be raising awareness of World Environment Day today (Tuesday 5th June) by organising a green lighting-up of some of Brisbane City’s bridges and places.

The lights on the Story Bridge and Victoria Bridge, in Reddacliffe Place, and the Tropical Dome in the Botanic Gardens, will all be beaming ‘green’ tonight. This year, the United Nations’ theme for World Environment Day is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution - if you can’t reuse it - refuse it’.

“The lights around Brisbane City bridges and landmarks will be making the town green on World Environment Day”, said Liz Murphy-Forrester from the Queensland Conservation Council.

“World Environment Day is an internationally-recognised day when the whole community can celebrate the importance of nature and its protection.

“Queensland contains unique biodiversity across land and waters, which conservation groups throughout the state work hard to protect.

“As well as reflecting on the importance of nature, this is also a time when we can think about how we can all help to protect it. There are many threats to our natural world, including plastic pollution.

“We commend the Queensland Government decision to phase out single use plastic bags as of 1st July this year.

“Reducing plastic pollution in Queensland will lead to improvements in our marine and land ecosystems, which impact on areas like the Great Barrier Reef. This, in turn, will lead to a reduction of harm on our precious wildlife such as sea turtles and sea birds.

“We look forward to the introduction of a container deposit scheme, the Waste Levy, and further positive action in addressing other plastic waste issues in Queensland, including plastic packaging and single use plastics”.

Queensland Conservation Council volunteers and supporters will be down at Brisbane’s Southbank in the late afternoon/early evening of Tuesday 5th June to see the city light up in green.